
The alarm rings to wake her up. She sits up and robotically gets dressed, eats breakfast and heads out the door. She drives the same route every day to her job. While she doesn’t love her job, she is happy that she has something to pay the bills and keep her busy. Does she rejoice in captivity or is she unconscious of how she acts and thinks? Everyone has a place in society; it does not matter whether we conform. Most of us accept our current status. In William Wordsworth’s “Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent’s Narrow Room,” he conveys the idea that people take comfort in having a specific role or job, while David Foster Wallace argues that people become complacent in their day-to-day life and lose sight of a bigger picture in his piece “This Is Water”. Wordsworth uses repetitive examples of jobs or places to show his idea that people are comforted by the confinement of their role in society; however, Wallace repeats the idea of humans having a default setting that controls their thoughts and actions.

Wordsworth provides us with the idea that people confine themselves to what they know. People like continuity and fear change. Wordsworth acknowledges this with the lines “In truth the prison, unto which we doom Ourselves, no prison is” (Wordsworth 8-9). Some may disagree, but there is nothing wrong with living a comfortable life. Knowing you have a place to call home and food on the table provides a sense of security. Most people probably do not realize that they limit themselves to what they know or their perceived role in society. If there is not a negative 
situation in one’s life, then why should they change anything? Unless someone has a need to break out of their current status, they probably never will. Wordsworth is saying that just because people may confine themselves to a job, a role, family, attaining a goal, etc., it is not necessarily a negative thing. He is also saying that people can be happy within their self-inflicted “prisons”; sometimes a “prison” is not always a negative place to be if it gives us a clear understanding of what we value most in our lives (Wordsworth 8). 

Wallace believes that people are unconscious as they go through life. He states that “learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience” (Wallace XIII). Unlike Wordsworth, Wallace believes one must take a step further in thought; one should not trap themselves in their own prison but work to understand the prisons of others. People should not allow themselves to become trapped in the self-centered thoughts of everyday life. This quote shows how humans naturally care about themselves and only see life through their own point of view. The world does not have room for love and kindness if everyone only cares about themselves. Wallace argues that one must step outside their bubble and outside of what they know in society to truly develop a deeper understanding of one’s own self and each other.

Wordsworth shows members of society rejoicing in their self-induced confinement. The examples he uses give a better understanding of his poem in general and how his own life and work support this idea. He states “Nuns fret not at their convent’s narrow room; and hermits are contented with their cells” (Wordsworth 1-2). According to Wordsworth, both of these societal figures build their prisons so they are able to live out their values. “Nuns” rejoice in their confinement because it allows them to focus on what they value most, prayer (Wordsworth 1). 

“Hermits” value exclusion, so they separate themselves from the rest of the world (Wordsworth 2). Wallace argues that people take the things they value and unhealthily worship them, while Wordsworth concludes that people choose their prisons in accordance to their role in society and what that role values. 

Wallace also comments on the qualities people value; however, Wallace does not believe that valuing these specific qualities is a positive idea. He states “everybody worships…worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly…worship power, you will feel weak and afraid (Wallace XII). Wallace points out that these values can lead to obsession and glorification. Wordsworth and Wallace have similar ideas because Wordsworth’s poem shows how people form their lives around the things they worship; Wordsworth views this form of worship as positive and constructive while Wallace sees this worship as negative and destructive to a person’s life. People become obsessed with what they worship. They confine themselves to these prisons built out of expectations, goals, desires, etc. because they want to attain that quality. Both Wordsworth’s and Wallace’s works are in unison regarding this point.

Not only are people comforted by their work, but it almost becomes a second nature to them. When you spend almost every day of your life working on a specific task, you do not really question it. The lines “maids at the wheel, the weaver at his loom, sit blithe and happy; bees that soar for bloom,” provide evidence to this idea (Wordsworth 4-5). All of the subjects Wordsworth mentions have a specific job. Just like the nuns and hermit, the maids and weaver are both content and comforted by their work. Wordsworth reinforces that idea but also brings a new idea to the table when he mentions bees. Bees pollinate all sorts of plants from flowers to crops; they do not question why they do it. Bees do not challenge their prisons because pollinating is in their nature. Wordsworth draws a connection from the bees to people. He is showing that similarly to bees, humans do not question their prisons because they have made their prisons a part of themselves. This same idea can be connected to Wallace’s default setting. People become so wrapped up in their ordinary lives that become unconscious to the world around them. They only understand the world from their own viewpoint and make no attempt to sympathize with those around them.

Wordsworth and Wallace have conflicting and some similar ideas. They both believe in a default setting and that people worship what they value; however, their arguments are different. Wordsworth sees the benefit of a personal prison and the structure and comfort it can provide. Wallace sees that the default setting hinders our ability to think and the way we think about others. These ideas are opposites, but they both play a role in how people live and interact with the world. One must make a choice to embrace their prison or to challenge it.

